Heat Wave
by fiftycrushes
Summary: Gossip around Hogwarts is that Draco Malfoy has a secret lady, and no one knows who she is. A fluff story VERY not compatible with HBP and DH, although some infos from both are used for background. No explicit scenes, just mature wording. Also on affnet
1. Heat Wave

**Heat Wave**

Since Christmas break, Draco Malfoy had had a secret affair. Everyone knew about it, he did nothing to hide that he snuck away several nights a week, appeared in the corridors disheveled and flushed mere footsteps away from an abandoned classroom or broom closet. What he did hide was with whom this affair was being carried on. It was the scandal of Hogwarts; students who were desperate to find a mean of amusing themselves out side of studying for finals, or OWLs and NEWTs. No one could figure out, after months of watching and speculating who the mystery woman – or man – was. Several girls acted the part, telling their History Class in excited whispers _just _how good Draco Malfoy was with his serpent tongue, but after both Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot exclaimed such fantasies happened the night before, in a clearing by the lake _and _in a class room just outside the kitchens at the same time, and that he lasted all night, when Malfoy was clearly seen by no less than 10 people in the library, and then the early risers at breakfast the next morning, talky girls decided to opt for the "let them assume" strategy.

By Easter, the Gryffindor seventh year boys were taking bets on whether it was Crabbe, Goyle, or Millicent Bulstrode that made Malfoy whistle in Care of Magical Creatures. Stakes were high, with Goyle in the lead, but when Malfoy walked into the Great Hall the first day back at classes after the week break and winked lecherously at Harry Potter's Ginny Weasley, who then proceeded to blush furiously in an uncharacteristic way, all bets were called off in lieu of new talks that Famous Potter's girlfriend was the illicit mistress. After two weeks of this festering gossip, it was squished with reasoning and physical force by Harry and Ron, and all three of their reputations were back to normal. Ginny was still a hot topic, and girls from fifth year and up soon swore that if she wasn't _the _girl, than she must know who she was. When approached, she unabashedly told them to get a life and turned to kiss Harry so as to embarrass them away. When Romilda Vane asked, Ginny told her to check the Astronomy Tower that night, and perhaps jump off of it if she really wanted to know. She then proceeded to snog Harry without shame.

Soon May was burning out triumphantly at Hogwarts. The weather seemed to smolder everything. The students, in attempts to further themselves from the scorching stones of the castle, found themselves at the lake or in the shade of the trees on the very closest edge of the Forbidden Forest.

One pair of students bared the heat in the slightly cooler dungeons of the Slytherin common room.

"It's boiling here! She won't even touch me if I'm already wilted like some Irish cabbage!" Draco Malfoy was reclined on a bed, hopelessly trying not to move.

"You're half dressed and practically see-through. You're not allowed to whine. You have also displaced me from my bed, so I refuse to help you."

"I will have a reason to whine when I finally get finished. I'll be the same as you." Draco finally sat up and grinned at Blaise Zabini. His friend did not humor him with a look or a question, but sat in an upholstered arm chair, and cleaned his nails with deep interest. Draco scowled and made bigger movements to gain Blaise's attention.

"I hate to do this to you, mate," Draco said, and with a flourished wave pulled a black turtleneck sweater over his body. Blaise finally looked up haphazardly.

"Phwah! Is she making you wear that? Is she actually torturing you or something?"

Draco's sneer only became more sinister.

"Wouldn't you like to know. And for your information, she happens to fancy me in black. Says it makes me look classy."

"Yes, and you definitely look classy like a – what was it? – a 'wilted Irish cabbage'? She seems to have forgotten that there is no ack in the wizarding world."

Draco pulled a blank face. "A what?"

"An ack. It's this thing that muggles put in their windows that blows cold air into their houses on hot days. They do have some ways around magic that could be admired if they weren't so barbaric."

"It sounds like you've been writing an essay for Muggle Studies," Draco scoffed.

"Know thy enemy," Blaise quoted easily, settling back to study his nails.

Draco fidgeted as quietly as he could with the neck of his sweater and pushing his hair out of his face. Finally, with one last huff, he caught Blaise's attention again.

"Why don't you just tell everyone who she is? It's the last three weeks of school; everyone in our year is too busy with NEWTs to care, and everyone else would probably be happy to stop talking about it."

"No they wouldn't. They need this, why would they want to give up talking about the admirable Draco Malfoy?"

"So you're keeping her a secret to boost your ego?" Blaise raised an eyebrow, still skeptical, "I never knew you were that deflated, Draco. And here I was, trying to believe you were nice enough to not tell anyone just because she asked for you to."

"As much as I'd love to stay and discuss this psychological conundrum with you, I really have to go," Draco rose and went to clap Blaise on the shoulder, "She's waiting for me – hot, sweaty, and wanting."

As he walked out the door, Blaise called after him: "At least let _me _know before the end of term!" He merely smiled to himself and strutted out the commons entrance.

* * *

Hermione Granger was startled from her stupor when she heard heavy footsteps approaching her table in the library. Re-organizing her thoughts, she looked back down at the papers she had been working on for over the past half hour. 

"You're late Malfoy," she said without looking up when the footsteps stopped in front of her.

"I thought you'd appreciate the wait Granger, but I'm touched that you wanted me here." Draco stared imploringly at her, as if willing her to look at him. When she did glance up, his face was bored and impassive. She gave a fleeting glimpse over his choice of clothing.

"Black. How sinister and…original." She passed the Prefect list to him across the table when he sat down.

"I'm hurt Granger. I went to all this trouble, thinking of you, being fashionable and fashionably late. Class seems to be lost on you, unsurprisingly."

"Class? Like wanking off in the middle of a classroom when Ginny walked in on you? Is that what you call class?" Draco paused for a moment, caught off guard by her bluntness.

"And I'm sure the first thing you wanted to know when the Weasel told you was how big I am?" Draco sneered and leaned his chair back, arms and legs splayed in show. The look on Hermione's face was plainly disgust and annoyance; she couldn't let him know that she had wondered that from time to time since hearing Ginny tell her. She chose to deny a comment and instead pointed to the list in front of him.

"We have to decide if the prefects from this year were decent enough to keep their positions for next year and give opinions on whether or not there are sixth year prefects we would nominate for head boy and girl. I've already made my review, and Professor McGonagall said the Headmaster would like both of our write-ups by tomorrow morning." Draco glanced at the list briefly and brought his eyes back to hers.

"Why should I write one when you already have? You keep saying 'we', and all year you've been spouting about us working together, but you have a review written all by your little self."

"I doubt that you would want Luna Lovegood or Colin Creevey taking our places next year –" he blanched and almost started laughing – "I'm also under the impression you wouldn't be getting very good head from Daphne Greengrass when she finds out her brother won't be a prefect next year because Filch caught him hexing a younger boy while he was on his rounds."

Draco's first reaction was to call her a liar and defend his fellow Slytherin, but as all of Hermione's words sunk in, he sputtered and stared at her openly.

"Daphne? Greengrass? Do you really think I'm that free with myself?"

"I think Daphne's the only girl who has openly admired you and hasn't made up any crazy stories about the two of you in a broom closet," Hermione dropped her eyes and made a fuss about the papers strewn between them. Draco began to smile again and leaned towards her.

"I didn't know you took such an interest in my love life Granger –"

"I _am_ observant."

" – and what about those who don't admire me openly?" Hermione's head snapped up, her eyes blazing.

"_You_ kissed _me, _Draco Malfoy!" she said in a furious hiss, "I was telling you to get off, I was _not _making out with you!"

"It was a wonderful way to make up for cursing me, and a marvelous way to regain consciousness," Draco bent in closer, continuing in a conversational tone

"It's called CPR!" she still whispered, seemingly about to breathe fire.

"What happened to 'ennervate'?"

Hermione stood, incensed, and made to reach for her wand, but Draco stood up and grabbed her wrists to keep them on the table. He was so close, their noses touched and she couldn't look away from him.

"You look exactly like you did the day you hexed me," his voice was finally lowered so only she could hear him, "you're breathing heavy, and your face is flushed. You're frustrated in so many ways, Granger."

"And you've lost it Malfoy! Let go of me and go back to your whore!" She started pulling back away from him.

"You mean you?" Hermione stopped struggling and let her jaw hang slack. Draco let out one gasp of a laugh. "You didn't realize it? You didn't put your amazing brain to use to think that it was _you?_ I can't make it through a class with you, a meeting here at this table, without thinking of what those lips could do. In the dark during rounds, I can only keep myself entertained one way. That's how the little weaslette found me when she was trying to sneak around with Potter. Thinking about you, and where else that flush could possibly be." But Hermione was no longer blushing red; she was pale and felt quite cold despite her heart pounding so loud in her ears. Her stomach was performing feats of trapeze acts that made her feel nauseous. Her brain had stopped processing anything and her mouth was threatening to pull into a silly grin.

"That's the same sweater you were wearing that day."

Draco smiled condescendingly. "I'm glad you finally noticed," and then pulled her into a real kiss.

* * *

**A/N: **yes, that's all I want to put here. It's quite tiny, even for a one shot, but I'm hoping to get further chapters written first before publishing them. There is another chapter written, and it's up on adultfanfiction as the third chapter (this was originally split into two) under the same name.  
Reviews of any type are welcome! Hope you enjoyed :-) 


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** Although I, too, am a leo and have marvelous curly hair, I am not old enough, nor talented enough to be the marvelous Jo Rowling. This also means that she is not me, and did not pen this story.

_A/N: I loved the fact that so many of you added me to your author/stories favorites! It made my days to see those little email alerts in my account . However, it seems that for all those people who enjoy this story, only one person reviewed ::tear::  
I sincerely hope that this installment makes you rethink your decisions ;-P  
And, of course, a thanks to CherryGrlZuli for being my reviewer. Much loves and thanks_

**Deuxieme Partie**

It was like nothing she had ever felt before. Was this how Draco had been all semester? All throughout their years at Hogwarts? To know that she was the one that made him smile like he hadn't before and she was the one whom everyone was talking about, but they didn't know it was her. It was better than the Yule Ball with Viktor. Better than making Lavender jealous over Ron. There was no Rita Skeeter, or Ron, or Cormac ruining her moment. Not now, because nobody knew. And school was ending soon, by then no one could care without seeming petty. Her parents would only care that their little girl was heading towards a serious relationship. They didn't know that his father was an evil man. They knew Draco picked on her, just like Ron and Harry had in first year. Her parents would smile to themselves and say "opposites attract" or "they've finally grown-up." No resistance would come from anywhere, for the time being.

Everyone else's ignorance was her bliss.

She kept sighing to herself in class. She tried, so hard, to pay attention to NEWTs. One word, just one little word, and the train of thought took her to so many different places. He always seemed to do this to her during finals times. First at Christmas, now the nastily exhausting tests. If the feeling wasn't so novel, she could actually pretend that she was worried about the distraction. And she couldn't help reminding herself of what she'd felt when he told her, and when he kissed her – _properly _kissed her. Merlin help her, she'd even giggled in the middle, much to Draco's dismay. But they had needed to move from the middle of the library; anyone could see them and then the bliss bubble would surely pop. For the past week now it was down to covert glances, and little notes stuffed in her bag with dirty words and suggestions that he couldn't whisper in her ear, not yet.

Hermione Granger was on the verge of exploding from frustration, and Draco Malfoy kept pushing her buttons without even touching her.

It wasn't just him. Hermione was actually putting effort into being desirable. Just little things to make him tick, on purpose. Her skirt would find a way to rest higher on her thigh in class. Her robes were buttoned tighter around her waist, and her posture when carrying her books and sack seemed straighter. Even her hips swayed just a little with a confident strut. She pulled her hair out of her face and smiled when she talked to others. She laughed loudly to catch his attention, but not cackling, or grating like Pansy's (at least, so she hoped). She even started checking her reflection on glasses and in trophy case doors. After an hour of studying herself in her room, Hermione decided she was beginning to look like a woman.

* * *

By the weekend before exams, rumors about Draco Malfoy were halted because of students finally choosing to study. The library was full, at the moment. Common rooms were quiet, tense, and crowded. For once in her life, Hermione actually felt prepared for her exams and was more than willing to sneak away with Draco while everyone else was preoccupied.

She hadn't seen him since Friday's classes. It was now Saturday evening, and she was fidgeting excessively in the Gryffindor common room. Harry and Ron were on the couch next to her arm chair pouring over the notes she had let them borrow. One leg was curled under her, while the other foot tapped…tap-tapped…tap-tap-tapped…

"It's too loud in here!" She stood up suddenly and pushed Crookshanks unceremoniously off her lap.

Harry and Ron looked up, confused.

"Hermione," Harry whispered, "the only noise's been your foot," he inclined his head. Ron had scrunched up his eyebrows, and was looking at her like she'd uttered a foul word.

"No…no, I can't concentrate in here…I'll be back soon…" She started gathering her books and parchments, distracted and ignoring the boys' pleas to let them keep the papers, just for one more chapter. She shuffled to the portrait door, oblivious to the number of Gryffindors who were staring at her desperate departure.

She had seen him fly past the tower window.

Hermione was sure it was him. Quidditch was over, and the professors had finally put cooling charms inside the school to encourage the students to stay in and study; no one else would venture outside, not even on a weekend. Plus, the last note he'd sent her was a tantalizing fantasy using the stands at the quidditch field and something about a broom she hadn't been able to make out.

Once out of the Fat Lady's direct eye-sight, she broke into a run. Skipping stair steps, skirting hallways that seemed to have been visited by Peeves, disregarding Moaning Myrtle's moans, and impatiently waiting for the door at the entrance hall to slowly swing open for her, Hermione finally made it to the Quidditch field. She went to stand at the center of the oval and looked up at his floating figure as he made his way luxuriously down to her. He let his toes skim the grass, but didn't dismount.

She looked at him, determined and expectant. "Well? Aren't you going to kiss me?"

He scrutinized her openly: hairs had escaped from her ponytail and were curled up like little horns around her forehead, some were stuck to her face by the sweat that had formed during her race to see him. Her face itself was red and splotchy, a far cry from the angry flush that came when she was being argued with.

"No Granger, I don't think I will." She smiled despite the refusal.

"Can I kiss you?"

"No."

This time she actually reeled back. No? Was he insane? Teasing her all week, and then saying _no?_

"Why not Malfoy?" she spat, "Had enough of me in classrooms by yourself?"

He circled her lazily on his broom. "Absolutely not. I have wonderful endurance. And I happen to love myself enough to keep going all summer if necessary." Hermione crossed her arms and huffed, not able to do much more while being orbited. "But if you keep acting like a girl in love, I'm going to have to just…" He shrugged noncommittally.

"In love?!" she shrieked, "I have been more desperate this week than seven years in this place to have someone –"

"To have someone what?" He swung abruptly to face her, still hovering above ground. His teeth were bared in what could be construed as a smile, but was no where near as nice as how he'd smiled at her in the library. She went red and felt that feeling again, but kept on going.

"To have someone do all those things you wrote about."

"You're acting like you've already been had." He continued in his path around her and ignored her sputtering. "You're just like every girl now. Every girl who thinks she knows something no one else does. Except maybe for that Weasley girl. Must be too much testosterone…" he mused as he circled a little bit higher, and higher.

She didn't want that much. She could read his notes if she just wanted that. But she did want him to kiss her. She needed to get his attention back.

"Are you bored of me, you spoilt child?" Hermione yelled up – he was almost two stories high now. "Are you bored of me because they're bored of you?!"

Even from where he was, he could see her stance becoming more firm, more stubborn. She was no longer floundering and confused. He grinned to himself and reclined back on his broom to soak in the last rays of the sun and listen to her scream herself hoarse. She went on for a few minutes, hurling over used insults at him while he lay in the sky, undeterred. About the time she should have stopped, something wafted up to him that made him turn his head, then grab the handle under him to keep from falling twenty-five feet.

"Look at me Draco Malfoy!"

She had thrown back her robes and was standing in the middle of the quidditch field in a plain white camisole and black shorts. She'd taken her hair out of the pony tail and it was poofed even more than ever.

He came down, steep, and stopped before the broom hit her nose. She squinted up at him and asked again "Do I look like every other girl now?"

The right answer was yes, she did. She had hair, her face was still rounded, she had breasts, a stomach that was poochy despite her attempts to pull it in. Her waist came in a little, and her hips went out even less, and her legs were pale. She looked like a girl at Hogwarts. But he knew better than to give the right answer. Or to say that that was exactly what he'd pictured her as being and how it didn't bother him in the least that she was less than perfect. He could say that she'd lost weight since Christmas, but he wasn't supposed to have seen anything in the first place.

When he didn't say anything, Hermione started losing her nerve. The night was coming and nights were never as warm as the day. Her camisole wasn't going to cover anything should she get a chill…

She knelt to pick up her robe, avoiding eye contact at all cost. When she rose and went to turn back to the castle, Draco caught her upper arm and pulled her towards him.

"Leave your window open. It'll be hotter tonight, and classrooms were getting terribly uncomfortable."

He pushed her away gently to where she was heading to anyway and spiraled off to where Hermione couldn't see.

* * *

"They're prickly. You can't possibly like them."

"Granger, they're fine. They're absolutely gorgeous. Stop worrying."

"How can you say they're gorgeous?"

"Your legs are fine Granger, I don't care if you haven't shaved them since this morning or not, neither have I and I don't hear you complaining about me kissing you."

"That's different, it's okay for you to have a furry chin…and I like it on you."

"And I like that you're legs aren't as prickly as you say they are. It wouldn't matter anyway; it's where they lead to that I'm more interested in."

"Malfoy!" Hermione finally sat up and swiped away his wandering hand from her thigh.

"Did you expect something else?" he inquired and moved his other hand to continue where his right had left off.

No. She'd been shivering with anticipation for him to take her gallantly in her private chambers, moonlight falling in through her open window, half a dozen wards and a strong muffliato surrounding them. What she had _not _expected when she begged a headache to leave the common room and locked herself in her bedroom was Draco's eagle owl to swoop in with a barely legible set of instructions, nor did she expect the letter to disintegrate after ten seconds.

Unable to prove him wrong, she lay back down on the desk and crossed her arms and legs indignantly, effectively trapping his hand.

"I thought you said classrooms were uncomfortable, Malfoy."

"Oh, I can assure you," he sounded almost gleeful, "I am quite comfortable where I am."

Hermione narrowed her eyes but said nothing. She knew that he could see a fair bit under her skirt, but it made her feel slightly more encouraged to know he wasn't seeing _that_, at least not now.

His hand had finally made itself free from between her thighs and his fingers were circling her knee absently. After minutes of nothing more than this, Hermione tilted her head to ask if he planned on doing anything. What she found made her stop breathing.

He wasn't even looking at her anymore. He was leaned forward in the chair at her feet, hand still on her bent knee, his head turned, regarding the blackboard behind Professor Binns's desk with a screwed up face of concentration. She watched him watch nothing before she made her decision.

He never noticed her movement until her legs slipped away from under his hand. The expression in his eyes didn't need to change much to go from concentration to confusion when she picked up her robe and straightened out her skirt.

"Where are you going?" Draco scowled. Hermione just smiled a little smile and turned to look at him, still in his seat, her hand on the door

"We're not going to do anything today. You don't even know if you really want me. No need to drive yourself crazy before NEWTs." She crossed the room and pressed a soft kiss on his lips.

He didn't kiss back.

"I really did like those notes Malfoy," she whispered, "send me some over the summer, will you?"

Later she would swear that when the door clicked behind her, a crash sounding alarmingly like a chair hitting a wall came from the classroom.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Still not wonderful enough to be JKR.

_A/N: I like that so many of you like this! This chapter is just sort of to move things along before the summer, where I think I'll need to write two editions of certain chapters, or bump up the rating on this, if you guys don't mind.  
Oh, forgive the offense/defense refference. I was watching the cowboys game at the time XD _

**Troisième Partie**

The Rumor Mill was up and running again, seemingly making up for lost time.

Draco Malfoy, it was told, had been scorned by his lover.

Several girls did nothing to hide the fact that they were pleased beyond words by this sudden development. None, however, attempted to approach and ask for details as to whether it was just a lover's tiff, or a true end. The confidence that had been exuded exponentially over the past six months had run out and now he was just a bumbling grousing bully again.

The rational (yet somehow still gossiping) person was more inclined to say that it was finals. Perhaps between his family's expectations and her own NEWTs/finals/OWLs, they were forced to call a temporary truce. The romantic, also, wanted to believe this reasoning, hoping that by this weekend or the leaving feast he would become again what he was, and do something grand and dreamy to let everyone know who she was publicly.

Like propose.

When Hermione overheard Lavender passing on this view to Ginny at lunch, she went very pale and felt her stomach drop a number of inches from its previous position in her abdomen. Somehow she managed to find enough voice to pester Lavender about talking about frivolous things when shouldn't she be studying for her _divination _test? While Lavender might not have caught the catty joke, Ginny and Harry did. Both gave her odd looks when she stood up and collected her bags to leave – she'd given up ages ago on convincing people that divination was a shoddy science, and it certainly wasn't in her general nature to be so mean about it with Lavender and the others.

"Alright Hermione?" Harry questioned before she left them for complete solitude again.

"Yes, yes" she answered distractedly, waving her hand in the air. "I'm a little stressed, but I haven't even _started _on studying the practical applications of Herbology for tomorrow's exam! I'll be back for dinner, promise!"

Once outside the Great Hall, her mind was buzzing with things far different than gardening. She thought she'd done the right thing…he'd looked so confused Saturday…not doing anything was for the good of everything. Yes, she had been a little surprised and secretly glad that he had showed up frazzled to the Defense against the Dark Arts exam yesterday, _and _a little worse for wear today for the potions practical. It was his own fault he hadn't spent the time studying and his life after school would then suffer. Not her own. Definitely not her fault.

And this _proposal _thing. Lavender must be imagining things. Sure, wizards and witches tended to marry young, but really, engagement right out of Hogwarts?

Absurd.

* * *

He had been waiting in this spot for twenty minutes.

Why, he couldn't really say, but it seemed like a fine idea to meet up with her in this spot rather than hunt her down. He didn't want her _that _much.

Finally Draco heard her heavy steps clipping down the corridor.

He positioned himself dead center of the hallway, ready to tackle her down if he had to, when a heavy hand clapped itself on his shoulder.

"Draco, my friend! Why so tense?" He never had learned to anticipate Blaise's light steps.

Draco's eyes were still trained on the corner she would come around any second and didn't look at his friend even as he answered, "No reason, just waiting."

"Aha! I know why," Blaise came around to be face-to-face, "it's because of your who-ever-she-is? Not getting any?" He laughed in a way that would otherwise let Draco know he was joking but an odd twitch had started in his jaw from clenching his teeth so hard.

Hermione's bushy hair and brisk step had placed her in their corridor just as Blaise mentioned Draco's physical lacking. When Blaise's harsh laugh reached her, Draco saw her eyes fly towards them, and a panicked look pass over her features momentarily before being quelled. Slowly, but surely, an annoyed scowl almost reminiscent of his own began to mar her face.

By this time Blaise was aware that his joke was either not heard, or not taken the right way. He turned around to see what had Draco's total attention, only to find Granger the Head Girl staring them down ferociously. He tilted his head slightly to his friend and whispered, "Bone to pick with her? Leave her be, school's almost over and it won't matter anymore." Draco tensed more as the boy kept talking; he was the only one of the three moving at all. "And if she found out about you two, who cares? The littlest weasel didn't bother you much, why should Granger?"

Draco wanted to come out of his temporarily paralysis. He wanted to laugh at Blaise and say he didn't _need _a little chit to relax. He wanted to ignore Hermione, because he still didn't know what he was doing there waiting for her. Instead he just watched as Blaise walked away from him, towards the tiny witch at the other end of the hall; watched as he inclined his head at her, and turned the corner opposite from the one she had come down; watched as she followed the clueless third party with her eyes and nodded her head in return.

Then she continued down towards him like he wasn't even there. She wasn't looking at him, but she wasn't looking anywhere else. To her, he really wasn't there.

Five feet away, she angled to the right. So did he.

Two feet away, she swerved left. He side-stepped in front of her.

She finally saw him.

"I ended it Malfoy."

"There was nothing to end. I just kissed you a couple times."

"Good, then I didn't end anything and you can let me get to the greenhouses." Hermione took two steps back to give a wide enough birth around him. Again, he stepped with her.

"So if you don't want anything, _Granger_, why didn't you hex me like you did the first night?" His eyes had narrowed and his lips were curling unpleasantly. She suspected he might have looked like this when he broke Harry's nose. Her stomach was flipping circles in a new routine from the excited one it had been performing the last week. He was irrefutably angry. Possibly at her.

"You have no reason to be angry at me," Hermione tried to continue on in a calm voice and hugged her texts closer to her chest. "I'm sure we can go on like we have all year –"

"Half of my year was spent waiting around you!" He took an aggressive step forward, putting himself in an offense stance, when he was so clearly on the defensive.

She cocked her head to the side, as if confused by his statement. "I didn't think either of us were worth all of it Draco. I know I certainly thought you weren't. I never did."

"You thought I wasn't worthy enough for you?" He almost laughed at the irony.

"I want you to kiss me again." Any thoughts of laughing were put on immediate hold. Everything in Draco's body seemed to freeze when her words seeped in. "I want whatever it is you want to start again, and keep going, once we're out of school. You won't have to worry about how you look if it were to be public, and you can keep up the gossip if you want. Your ego, status, and grades won't suffer at all."

As organized and reasonable and prior planning oriented Hermione Granger was, all of the reasons she listed came straight off the top of her head. She was almost pleased with herself for once. But she couldn't stop there.

"If you kiss me now, it'll be the last till the end of term. Until we're far away from Hogwarts. I think you still just like the fantasies –"

Draco rushed upon her, right there in the middle of the hall. His hands were up at the sides of her face, fingers combed through her hair, tilting her head back so he could crush his lips to hers. If this was his last kiss when he had waited all term for just one, if he had to wait nearly two more weeks for another, _this _kiss was to be the greatest. Her bottom lip was captured between his, and he pulled it further in to taste it and have it in his teeth. Hermione's mouth was responding beautifully to his own, her tongue running along what little she had of his lip. She turned her head to make the kiss more complete and was rewarded when his tongue entered and met with hers.

After what wasn't anywhere near long enough, Draco vaguely wondered where her hands were and why were they not grasping him desperately. He pulled away to breathe and look at Hermione, her lips swollen and wet and chest heaving where she had her books still clutched so tightly her knuckles were white. He let out a reluctant groan as he untangled his hands from her hair and watched her come to. He stepped back, placing a (difficult) respectful distance between their bodies.

"I'll see you at King's Cross Granger." He walked stiffly down the corridor but turned when he heard Hermione call his name.

"Draco! Keep writing those notes. Please?"

He merely smiled at her and walked away again.


End file.
